“Thanks Anonymous.” You say as you step inside the doorway into the home.

>Not many things changed in this house whenever you came. Sometimes things were moved here or there and occasionally places were overturned for dusting, but Anonymous kept the house static for his children, Celestia had said.

>You walk the familiar path to the couch and Anonymous sits across from you in his chair.

>”How do you find yourself?”

>You sigh contentedly and begin to ramble off a few things.

“It’s good! I’m helping ponies with their friendship lessons and starting to figure out what the map that came with my castle means.”

>Anonymous chuckles. “All good to hear, but how do you find yourself?”

>You can’t your head to the side.

“Uh…I think I just told you.”

>”You told me what you are doing but I asked how you ARE? You, not your duties. Twilight Sparkle.”

>You rub your hooves together, a little scarlet-faced.

“I’m fine, I’ve been working hard every day since my ascension. Spike’s even started officially scheduling time to spend with me.”

>Despite what you would think, Anonymous raises an eyebrow. “Too busy to be with him?”

>You rub the back of your head.

“Yes…I feel awful about it, but I know that I’ve got a duty as the Princess of Friendship to the rest of the ponies in Equestria. Spike can’t come before that.” You say, resolve doubled.

>Anonymous leans into his fingers and taps one against his face.

“You’re thinking of a story.”

>”I often will when you come by.”

>Anonymous looks into the distance.

>”It was a night like any other…at the beginning.”

>You spin the cups around amongst themselves, mixing them up and trying to trick the girls. Once you’re satisfied you stop and sit back with your hands crossed.

“Pick one.”

>”That one!” Celestia says, confident as ever.

>You lift the cup and reveal…the floor underneath.

“Sorry Celly.”

>Celestia frowns in disappointment. Luna then steps forward and bit and silently points to another.

>You lift that one up, revealing it empty.

>Luna plops on the floor defeated and neither of the girls move.

“Well? You still have one more guess.”

>Celestia looks up at you. “What? Daddy, there’s only three cups. It can’t be anywhere else.”

>You chuckle and lift the cup up, there was nothing there.

“Can it now?”

>Celestia hops to her feet, never taking her eyes off the spot the small stone that was serving as the token in this game was supposed to be. She stepped forward and patted the area with her hoof.

>”Nothing…daddy you lied to us! There was no stone under there!”

>She glares up at you and puffs out her cheeks, it was one of the most adorable things you’d ever seen.

“Did I, Celestia?” You ask.

>You reach your hand out and into her mane and with a quick flick of your thumb to move the rock from your hiding spot between your fingers, you pull it out from her hair.

>Well, Celestia’s jaw hits the floor. Her and Luna both stare with wide-eyed shock when you show them the tiny stone.

>”WHA-“

>”HOW DID THOU-“

>You laugh and kick your legs a bit, watching these two in wonderment always made you smile.

“It’s a secret, girls. One I don’t intend to reveal.”

>You glance up at the clock and nearly gasp. It was getting late.

“But what’s not a secret is that it’s time for one little filly to get to bed.”

>Luna sags her head a bit. “Do we haaaave to?” she whines.

“Sorry princess, but being a night-owl doesn’t mean no bed time.”

>Luna sighs.

“When you get older you can stay up as late as Celestia, okay?”

>”Okay…”

>You pick her up and carry her off to the bath.

“Celestia before I put you to bed, I’ll teach you a magic trick.”

>The girls asleep, father finally lets himself have the same treat.

>You crawl into bed after bathing and reading to Celestia and curl up in your covers. You felt tired, as you did after every day with the girls, but it was a good exhaustion.

>Your muscles ached with the ache of having worked hard to raise two children and your mind was empty from putting all your thoughts into making sure they were happy.

>Because of that, sleep comes easily for you. You can feel your mind starting to wander the moment your head hits the pillow and your eyes start to sag.

>Your thoughts turn to the girls.

>In your mind’s eye you see Celestia and Luna frolicking on the lawn outside your cottage. From the door you can see them run and leap and tackle over each other and you smile.

>The little figment of Luna runs over to you, between your legs and into the house. “Come play with me, papa!”

>You turn and chase after her into your home. It was warm inside and you felt safe and the floor was littered with toys and games that never seemed to get in your way.

>You scoop Luna up and hold her to your face.

“I got you!”

>She giggles and nuzzles her nose against yours, making you sneeze and send little stars into the air.

>Wait sneeze? In a dream?

“That doesn’t…”

>”What doesn’t, Papa?” Luna asks peering through her bangs.

>You catch that too.

“Sweety? You…can respond to-“ you look around you at the house, it all seemed so real… “But I’m dreaming…”

>Luna titters. “A special dream.”

“Huh?”

>Luna floats up out of your hands, though she doesn’t flap her tiny wings. “It was I who made this place! Now we can play together!”

>She-

“Sweety…you MADE THIS?”

>She smiles and nods. This was not in your lessons.

“HOW?!”

>”We have read yours and sisters dreams for a long time now! It simply…happened one night.”

>That just raised more questions. How did it happen? Were their powers advancing without you? Could you even trust this was real?

>”I know you dreamed up that magical trick, papa! I know you hid the stone between your fingers!”

>Okay so it was real.

>Luna floats past you on invisible wind and lands on the ground. “Come on! We can do whatever we want here! Let’s play! She says.”

>You look around at the toys scattered along the floor and took inventory of them, some you didn’t even recognize or think would work in a physically possible way, but would make perfect sense for a small child.

>Then you looked at her face and see how wide her smile is when so often it was hidden behind her hair or curled into a non-committal face.

>Seeing her happy and comfortable in this place made you feel the same way.

“Alright Sweety…what did you have in mind?”

>Luna’s smile grows wider.

>It was your turn.

“And…flip!”

>You jump and spin around, waving your arms and blowing your cheeks out to make a ridiculous face at Luna.

>You find a copy of yourself staring back at you, one that glows ever so slightly blue. You chuckle.

“I think SOMEPONY here might just be cheating.”

>Luna peeks up from behind a rainbow hill in the living room. “What? Me? I perish that thought!”

>You walk over to Luna and scoop her up in her arms, tickling her belly and making her squeal.

“We’ll call that a tie game, huh?”

>”Hehehehehehe whatever allows you to sleep at night!”

>Wow. You’d almost never heard Luna laugh.

>Come to think of it, the hours you’d spent here with her had shown you many things you’d never seen the little night filly do. Laugh so hard milk came from her nose, make silly faces at her reflection, even frolic. Luna never frolicked back with you and Celestia in reality…

>Thinking of Celestia made you remember something.

“Luna…where’s…your sister?” you ask, looking around.

>Luna stops laughing. “Uhm…that was your dream, papa. It was before we pulled you here.”

“But you can do -all this-, surely you can make your sister.”

>Luna averts her eyes and taps her hooves together. “We…could…”

>You don’t say anything, but you think. Why wouldn’t Luna want to play with her sister and you?

>…Oh.

>Oh!

>…Oh…

>You sigh and sit down with her.

“Lulu…”

>She doesn’t answer.

“Is this because you wanted more time with me?...Perhaps without your sister around?”

>Luna remains tight lipped, but that really says it all.

“Sweetie…”

>”Well you always put me to bed first and she gets the longer lessons and you and her talk lots more than you and I do and she always butts her big fat butt into things when you and I play!”

“Whoa! Luna!”

>Luna stops screaming but pants heavily. You hug her to your chest.

“Lulu…your sister…she’s older than you, sweetie, and she has different needs than you. I love both of you more than you can imagine, and from the look of this place, you can imagine quite a lot.”

>She titters at that.

“If I spend time with you or your sister…it’s because one of you needs me. Celestia is learning more about her magic every day and she needs help, that’s why I spend time talking to her and helping her study. I’ll do the same for you once you start learning as much as she does.”

>Luna is quiet for a bit. “How come she stays up later with you then?”